Amazon strengthens and maintains its position as the world's
most valuable technology brand. Brand value surges 25% to a record US$
187.9 billion, over US$30 billion more than 2nd place Apple. Notoriously
strong for service, last year, Amazon recorded its most successful Prime
Day to date, with consumers purchasing more than 100 million products.
This was shortly followed by the brand crossing the US$1 trillion
threshold on Wall Street for the first time in its history. And due to
an ever-diversifying portfolio, it seems no industry is safe from the
threat and power of Amazon.

The Amazon brand is well-positioned for further growth but the
presence of Chinese brands this year is most impressive and certainly
not to be ignored.

David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, commented: "Amazon is
leaving no stone unturned as it relentlessly extends into new sectors,
however its technological might still overshadows rivals to retain the
status of the world's most valuable tech brand.

The Amazon brand is well-positioned for further growth but the
presence of Chinese brands this year is most impressive and certainly
not to be ignored."

Chinese brands flex muscle.

While the top 5 most valuable tech brands are dominated by brands
from the USA, the remaining 5 within the top 10 are from China and South
Korea, asserting the dominance and competitiveness of the Asian players.
New entrant Taobao (brand value US$46.6 billion) is the most valuable,
breaking into the top 10 for the first time. The Chinese online shopping
website is headquartered in Hangzhou and owned by Alibaba. It is one of
the world's biggest e-commerce websites, offering its almost 620
million monthly active users a marketplace to facilitate
consumer-to-consumer (C2C) retail by providing a platform for small
businesses and individual entrepreneurs to open online stores.

At US$50.7 billion, China's WeChat is a rising star, having
lifted its brand value 126% over the previous year. Its influence is
reflected in the impressive way in which the brand has successfully
created a digital ecosystem for its I billion Chinese users who use the
platform every day to instant message, read, shop, hire cabs, and more.

WeChat has broken into the top 10 for the first time, making it
worthy of its strongest brand accolade, improving on last year with an
upgrade to the elite AAA+ brand strength rating and a corresponding 90.4
out of 100 Brand Strength Index (BSI) score. Whilst China's
burgeoning middle class makes it attractive to continue strengthening
the brand domestically, the massive growth experienced by brands as they
pursue international business is also appealing.

Another tech brand relying on the domestic customer base has made
the most of the immense growth in demand for streaming content within
the country. iQiyi is not just China's but the world's
fastest-growing brand this year, up 326% to US$4.3 billion. The
Baidu-owned online video platform is China's answer to Netflix and
hosts over 500 million monthly active users.

For the full report see: www.brandfinance.com

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